The present invention relates to an electronic monetary system for implementing electronic money payments as an alternative medium of economic exchange to cash, checks, credit and debit cards, and electronics funds transfer. The Electronic-Monetary System is a hybrid of currency, check, card payment systems, and electronic funds transfer systems, possessing many of the benefits of these systems with few of their limitations. The system utilizes electronic representations of money which are designed to be universally accepted and exchanged as economic value by subscribers of the monetary system.
Today, approximately 350 billion coin and currency transactions occur between individuals and institutions every year. The extensive use of coin and currency transactions has limited the automation of individual transactions such as purchases, fares, and bank account deposits and withdrawals. Individual cash transactions are burdened by the need of having the correct amount or providing change therefor. Furthermore, the handling and managing of paper cash and coins is inconvenient, costly and time consuming for both individuals and financial institutions alike.
Although checks may be written for any specific amount up to the amount available in the account, checks have very limited transferability and must be supplied from a physical inventory. Paper-based checking systems do not offer sufficient relief from the limitations of cash transactions, sharing many of the inconveniences of handling currency while adding the inherent delays associated with processing checks. To this end, economic exchange has striven for greater convenience at a lower cost, while also seeking improved security.
Automation has achieved some of these qualities for large transactions through computerized electronic funds transfer ("EFT") systems. Electronic funds transfer is essentially a process of value exchange achieved through the banking system's centralized computer transactions. EFT services are a transfer of payments utilizing electronic "checks," which are used primarily by large commercial organizations.
The Automated Clearing House (ACH) and point of sale (POS) systems are examples of electronic funds transfer systems that have become used by retail and commercial organizations on a substantial basis in recent years. However, the payments made through these types of EFT systems are limited in that they cannot be performed without the banking system. Moreover, ACH transactions usually cannot be performed during off business hours.
Home Banking bill payment services are examples of an electronic funds transfer system used by individuals to make payments. Currently, home banking initiatives have found few customers. Of the banks that have offered services for payments, account transfers and information over the telephone lines using personal computers, less than one percent of the bank's customers are using the service. One reason that Home Banking has not been a successful product is because the customer cannot deposit and withdraw money as needed in this type of system.
Current EFT systems, credit cards, or debit cards, which are used with an on-line system to transfer money between accounts, such as between the account of a merchant and that of a customer, cannot satisfy the need for an automated transaction system that provides for the transfer of universally accepted economic value outside of the banking system.
To implement an automated, yet more convenient transaction system that does not require the banking system to intermediate the transfer, and that can dispense some form of economic value, there has been a trend towards off-line electronic funds transfer. For example, numerous ideas have been proposed for some form of "electronic money" that can be used in cashless payment transactions as alternatives to the traditional currency-and check types of payment systems. See U.S. Pat. No. 4,977,595, entitled "METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR IMPLEMENTING ELECTRONIC CASH, and U.S. Pat. No. 4,305,059, entitled "MODULAR FUNDS TRANSFER SYSTEM."
The more well known techniques include magnetic stripe cards purchased for a given amount and from which a prepaid value can be deducted for specific purposes. Upon exhaustion of the economic value, the cards are thrown away. Other examples include memory cards or so called smart cards which are capable of repetitively storing information representing value that is likewise deducted for specific purposes.
However, these proposed systems suffer from a failure to recognize fully the significance of bank deposits as money, and their necessity to back any form of universally accepted monetary representations that may be issued. In the systems disclosed thus far, representations of economic value, whether electronic or paper, are issued without the backing of equal valued liabilities as the counterpart to their assets.
None of the paperless payment systems that have been proposed so far are comprehensive enough so as to implement a multipurpose electronic monetary system that includes not only the automated devices that allow subscribers to transfer electronic funds or money between them without any intermediating system, but that also encompasses and includes an entire banking system for generating the value represented by the electronic money and for clearing and settling the electronic money accounts of the banks and financial institutions involved to maintain a monetary balance within the system.
Thus, there is a need for a system that allows common payor to payee economic exchanges without the intermediation of the banking system, and that gives control of the payment process to the individual. Furthermore, a need exists for providing a system of economic exchange that can be used by large organizations for commercial payments of any size, that does not have the limitations of the current EFT systems.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a complete electronic monetary system which utilizes electronic money that is interchangeable with traditional cash and is universally accepted.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a method of securely transferring economic value including currency and credit among subscribers, among financial institutions, and between subscribers and financial institutions.
A further object of the present invention is to provide a multipurpose paperless payment system whereby transactions can be carried out in both an on-line and an off-line mode between subscribers.
It is yet another object of the present invention to provide a payment system that reduces the cost of central electronic funds transfer systems by off loading much of the payments to off-line devices.
It is still another object of the present invention to provide a system of inexpensive electronic transfers to reduce an institution's cost of managing paper cash, checks and coins.
It is still a further object of the present invention to provide a user friendly electronic payment system that may be used reliably and securely for real time transfers of money between members of the general public, between members of the general public and commercial organizations, and between commercial organizations.
It is still another object of the present invention to provide a system for depositing and withdrawing economic value which may be integrated with a wide variety of data processing and data communication systems including currently available home banking services.
It is still a further object of the present invention to provide an electronic monetary system which utilizes electronic money in the form of multiple currencies.
It is yet a further object of the present invention to provide a system for safely transferring economic value in transactions of virtually any size denomination.
It is yet another object of the present invention to provide a medium of economic exchange that is fungible, easily transferable, undeniably redeemable, and secure from reuse, duplication, and counterfeiting.
The foregoing objects and advantages of the invention are illustrative of those which can be achieved by the present invention and are not intended to be exhaustive or limiting of the possible advantages which can be realized. Thus, these and other objects and advantages of the invention will be apparent from the description herein or can be learned from practicing the invention, both as embodied herein or as modified in view of any variations which may be apparent to those skilled in the art. Accordingly, the present invention resides in the novel methods, arrangements, combinations and improvements herein shown and described.